There are a wider variety of surgical instruments involving the use of jaws or pincers or the like in which an instrument is provided with handles or provision is made for the relative movements of parts of the instrument involved. Some of these instruments are, by way of example, shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,002,594; 3,585,985; 4,043,343; and 4,258,716.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,002,594, R. H. Wappler et al show an instrument for electrical surgical treatment of tissue. In this instrument, a pair of handle members are arranged relative to a pivot with a pair of jaws being laterally offset relative thereto. As will be shown, this instrument is distinguishable from the type of instrument contemplated within the scope of the present invention because the pivot provided for the jaws is, in essence, arranged in parallel to the pivot provided for the handle members.
W. Gould shows in U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,985 a surgical instrument comprising a first assembly member having a handle portion, a shank portion and a tip portion all relatively fixed in spatial and structural relationship to each other. A second handle member is provided which is hingedly connected to the first assembly member at the juncture of the handle and shank portions. A shank member is provided which is hingedly connected to the second handle member which slidably mates with the shank portion of the first assembly member and a tip member hingedly connected to the shank member at the end thereof remote from the handle-shank hinge. It will be noted that in this instrument, the pivots provided for the handle members are parallel to the pivot provided for the shank.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,343 (R. Williams), there is shown a forceps having a pair of handles, one of which is hinged for reciprocal movement relative to the other. Extension arms are provided between the handles. One of the arms is reciprocally slidable along the other arm. Upper and lower jaw members are furthermore provided, one of which is hinged for reciprocal movement relative to the other in response to reciprocal handle movement. In this arrangement, as in the above arrangement, the various pivots are provided in relative parallel attitude.
G. Sutherland shows, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,716, a microsurgical instrument having a handle adapted to be grasped by a surgeon and operating means being provided on the handle. An instrument body extends outwardly from the handle and has at its outer end the operative portion of the instrument which may, for example, be a scissors or forceps. The arrangement is such that the instrument body can be freely rotated about the axis of the handle to align the instrument in the required position with the body being located frictionally in position when the operating means is actuated. Thus, there is no firm predetermined position between the handle and instrument body as is necessary during certain types of procedures.
As will be shown hereinafter, the present invention provides for a relative arrangement of handles and jaws. Since the conception of the present invention, I have researched the various prior art and find that there are non-surgical instruments which provide, in general, a type of relative placement of parts of the type with which I am generally concerned. Some of these relationships are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,679,096; 3,296,697; 3,325,896; and 3,375,581. In these previously granted patents are shown grass shears in which handles relatively pivotable in one plane are related to cutting blades which are relatively pivotal in a second plane which is perpendicular to the first plane. As will become apparent hereinafter, I employ an arrangement with a camming construction which is different from anything shown in the above patents while at the same time, I employ the arrangement of the jaw plane and handle plane for a purpose and in a manner heretofore unrecognized.